Oxygen transfer and pulmonary hypertension as predictors of early mortality in lung transplant patients
Abstract
Objective: To identify measurable predictors of survival in patients after lung transplantation. Design: Retrospective monocentric clinical study.
Setting: Department of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation of the 2nd Medical School and the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education, Charles University Prague-Motol. Material and Methods: 47 patients after single and double lung transplants were included.
PaO1, mean pulmonary artery pressure and hypoxemic index were selected as the possible survival predictors. The assessed data were collected preoperatively and 2, 24 and 48 hours postoperatively, and analysed using log rank test, α = 0.05.
Results: Two factors predicting statistically higher mortality were identified: poor postoperative oxygenation expressed as low hypoxemic index, and persisting postoperative elevation of the mean pulmonary arterial pressure. Conclusion: Our study showed the significance of persisting postoperative elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure and low hypoxemic index as factors predicting higher mortality in patients after lung transplants.